"The Response"..... Whaddya nuts?

I don't intend to criticize religious fundamentalism here. It's not my cup of tea, but what I really object to is the strong commingling of religion and politics.

Isn't there supposed to be a separation of church and state?

Rick Perry's been the governor of Texas for a long time, 10 years. The longest of any sitting governor. He got elected for the third time last fall, in 2010. He musta not had much to do, because he immediately began to plan a religious event, starting last December. The event takes place this weekend. Over 8 months in the planning, "The Response", as it has been dubbed was launched as a "Day of Prayer and Fasting for our Nation" to seek God's guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation. It is a nondenominational, apolitical, Christian Prayer meeting at Reliant Stadium in Houston. It will last 7 hours.

Perry's enthusiastic about his plans and has invited every governor in the nation, members of Congress & the Texas legislature and the Obama administration and a few thousand others. With only 8000 RSVP's thus far, Perry's cast, at this point, includes only one of the political people, Sam Brownback, governor of Kansas. It may be a little empty, since the stadium holds iover 70,000. It's sponsored by a private association out of Mississippi that owns 200 radio stations - the group strongly opposes abortion and homosexuality and has made statements to the affect that the religious freedom guaranteed in the First Amendment applies only to Christians.

Are you surprised?

People who will appear - Mike Bickle, John Hagee, C. Peter Wagner.... look them up. They are radical in their fundamentalism. Wagner drew his "fame" from a number of sources, one, his book "Hard Core Idolatry" where he supports the burning of religious objects that are Catholic, Mormon, Native American and the like. Things like statutes of the saints and the books of Mormon.

This is a strange endeavor for a sitting governor, but even stranger when you consider Perry's presidential aspirations.

Leaders in the state of Texas and the anti-defamation league have begged Perry to cancel the event, but Perry seems immune to their please, even as his political machine wrings their hands at the message. Perry has said: "I truly believe with all my heart that God has put me in this place at this time to do his will."

I'm fine with Perry's commitment to this, but do think he belongs in the ranks of the ministry, not the government executives of this land. But then, this is the guy who supported Texas seceding from the union.

Your jaw drops.... Texas - It's About Treaties and the Law

This Guy (with the good hair)

And These Guys (the 4 men in the front and the big guy in the back that looks like Alfred E. Neumann)

They took action today to violate the Vienna Convention. Because, when the US has signed that treaty, the state of Texas doesn't have to care what the US has done. They're not bound by US Treaties. Theyre Texas. The state of Texas did not insure that Humberto Leal, a criminal, who most likely would have been convicted if they had followed the law, had information of his right to consult with Mexican consular authorities ( he is a citizen of Mexico) when he went on trial for his crimes in the Great State. The Vienna Convention, which guarantees foreign detainees the right to consult with representatives of their governments when they are arrested; it is YOUR protection if you travel abroad and get accused of a crime and arrested in a foreign country.

The world protested Leal's execution today. The government of Mexico, the President of the United States, the Justice Department, the State Department, senior military officers, the United Nations and former president George W Bush also appealed for Leal's execution to be halted on the grounds it could jeopardise American citizens arrested abroad as well as US diplomatic interests.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague found that the inmates had been denied their rights under the Vienna Convention. The convention requires that foreigners detained abroad be told they may contact consular officials.
In 2008, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the international court’s ruling was binding but said that the president acting alone could not compel states to comply with it. Congress also had to act, the court said.

These guys (so what else is new?) failed to act since directed to by the Supremes in 2008. They didn't pass the law compelling states to comply with foreign treaties.

The Supremes?

on Thursday evening rebuffed a request from the Obama administration that it stay the execution of a Mexican citizen on death row in Texas. The inmate, Leal, was executed about an hour later. Ruling along party lines, the 5 Republican judges said:

“We decline,” the majority wrote, “to follow the United States’ suggestion of granting a stay to allow Leal to bring a claim based on hypothetical legislation when it cannot even bring itself to say that his attempt to overturn his conviction has any prospect of success.”

Sort of a "gotcha"....we told you so, moment for these gentlemen.

The outnumbered Supremes (the three women and the bald guy in the back?

wrote that the government’s request was modest given that allowing the execution to proceed would, in the solicitor general’s words, “cause irreparable harm” to “foreign-policy interests of the highest order” and endanger Americans traveling abroad.

AFTER THE VERDICT, THE HONORABLE (?) GOVERNOR OF TEXAS REFUSED A STAY OF 30 DAYS. HE PROBABLY FIGURED THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE IN WASHINGTON COULDN'T PASS A LAW IN 30 DAYS ANYWAY. HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN RIGHT.

WITHOUT GIVING THOUGHT TO HIS NATIONAL POLITICAL FUTURE; WITHOUT CONSIDERING HOW THOUGHTFUL HE MIGHT LOOK TO THE REST OF THE WORLD HE WANTS TO START THINKING OF "PERRY AS PRESIDENT", HE DIDN'T LIFT A FINGER AND ALLOWED LEAL TO BE PUT TO DEATH.

After Texas had kept him alive for 17 years since his crime, anyway.

If I were Rick Perry....I might not want to travel abroad for awhile. Same thing with the delightful Clarence Thomas. I'm just sayin' ...............................

P.S. There are about 50 nationals of other countries in Death Row captivity across America who have not been given their rights under Vienna. Stay tuned.

21 st CENTURY SOUTH CAROLINA

I've been having some jaw-dropping fun with the remarks of the esteemed governor of Texas, Rick Perry. Now, Perry has had a distinguished political career, and if he can somehow hold on to his fragile grip on the governorship (he won in 2006 with only 39+% of the vote) against what will likely be the formidable Kay Bailey Hutchinson, he will have been the governor who has served Texas for the longest term in history.

He has a nice haircut. He's an Aggie. (He actually was an Aggie Cheerleader :)) ). He had a distinguished military career.

Oh, and Texas? There are few places I like more. Two of my best girlfriends in the world live in Austin and Dallas. I have a great person who works for me in located in North Dallas. I'm enamored of San Antonio and have some wonderful work colleagues there and in Houston. I have fond memories of vacations on the beach at Padre Island. And it's pretty rare to find me rooting for someone else if the Longhorns are in a college football game. (I'll just neglect to mention how I feel about those @#S#$$%^$#!! Cowboys).

I hope that all of those things I love won't mess with me when I poke some fun at the governor's stance on secession. And while I'm laughing about it, let's not forget that what he is advocating could be construed as treason...and the right wing militia-allied group that formed the Independent Republic of Texas in 1997 resulted in violence under leader Richard McLaren.

Anyhow, here's the salvo that Governor Perry fired on April 16, if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzbdugWJbNo

And, while Keith Olbermann is a little bit radical himself (on the other side of the coin), his "WTF" feature on Texas succession is pretty funny.... below: